Jakub Alexander curates the music selections here at the blog. He also runs his Moodgadet record label out of Brooklyn, NY and does A&R for Ghostly International Records.
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A genuine ode to the softer sides of the early 90s indie pop scene, could have been cherished by either coasts back then.

Positive Noise, the debut album by Sam O.B, is not a ‘journey of a record’, but it’s also not Party Time USA. It’s nuance: cloud patterns: like good progressive jazz. Like the refinement of refinement, the elegance of elegance. Sound propelled by its own smoothness. A coolness that isn’t cold. The earnestness of an old friend. Expanse. Experimentation. Actual warmth.

Sam O.B. is (and has always been) a man of classics. When you hear the sax on ‘Salt Water,’ you will understand this ambition with precision. Arpeggiated horn delay and female oohs fall like geodesic rain. The blasting synth leads on ‘Midnight Blue’ and ‘Nearness’ waver and find their way (“Always on time”). The sing-and-play harmonies of ‘Sirens’ refer to the stunning bliss of smooth jazz, which has been in Sam’s arsenal of interests for longer than anyone can remember.

“The story of “See” is metamorphic. The track emerged instrumentally — as per Tycho’s characteristic output — on the 2014 LP Awake. Months later it was remixed into a bubbling pop song by New York duo Beacon. 2017 brought the next phase, as Beacon’s Thomas Mullarney III joined Tycho at Coachella to perform “See” (the first time the band has ever featured a vocalist). Now “See” has reached its final stage, re-recorded as a proper collaboration. Tycho touchstones abound, swirling melodies, stuttering percussion, lifted by a voice in flight.”

“Marion” is the first piece of new music from Beacon’s Thomas Mullarney III and Jacob Gossett since the New York duo’s 2016 album, Escapements.

At the heart of “Marion” is a hammered dulcimer. The percussive, stringed instrument—an ancient ancestor of the piano—acts as the composition’s harmonic and dynamic guide. Samples ebb and flow, projecting into the mix at moments of brightness and clarity. Other times they recede beneath Mullarney’s crystalline voice and a bed of feathery, pneumatic production. This is the mode in which Beacon have always thrived: wistful amidst pulsing electronics and soft-washed hues.

From the new Danny Wolfers Unfolding The Future With Amateur Space Jazz album. Out now!!! On Nightwind Records NW014 Available on Cassette, CD and digital. Comes with a 24 page graphic novel. Digital version has the graphic novel in PDF format.

What is Amateur Space Jazz?!

Its exact dimensions are not yet known…
Its philosophy not yet defined…

One could call it a Lo-Fi minimal wavish version of cosmic space jazz and anything closely related to it…from spiritual soul, g-funk, ethiopian jazz to ambient and everything in between…

No knowledge of musical theory is required…played with a D.I.Y punk approach on crappy digital synthesizers – preferably with dubious renditions of real instruments. Warmed up to the right temperature with some offbeat effectsbox. Multitracking is a technique widely used…to create a “one person band with all its members oneself’s multidimensional copies in time”